Twelfth night traditions.

There is some debate here as to whether it was 12th night yesterday or if it is today (6th January - Epiphany). Whichever it is, it is the time to take down all decorations or bad luck will befall the household.

In the UK, people used to have parties on Twelfth Night and it was traditional to play practical jokes on your friends and neighbours. These included tricks such as hiding live birds in an empty pie case, so that they flew away when your startled guests cut open the crusts (as in the nursery rhyme "Sing A Song of Sixpence" goes, "…the pie was opened and the birds began to sing".

Twelfth Night Cake
The Twelfth Night cake was a rich and dense fruitcake which traditionally contained a bean. If you got the bean then you were King or Queen of the Bean and everyone had to do what you told them to do.

There were also other items hidden in the cake:

If you got a clove you were a villain.
If you got a twig you were a fool.
If you got a rag you were a tarty girl.
Turkish NightTwelfth Night Plays
Twelfth Night itself was a traditional day for plays or "mumming" and it is thought that Shakespeare's play, Twelfth night, took its name from the fact that it was first performed as part of Twelfth Night celebrations about 1601.

Near where I live, there will be a crazy sort of football match (The Haxey Hood) between two villages. It has been taking place on 6th January since 14th Century and is a big event now and can take hours to complete.
In our area, the mummers plalys are traditionally held on Plough Monday (the Monday after Epiphany) although we will be seeing our nearest one on Saturday. They are great fun, with excuses for men to dress up as women and act the fool in public! They do raise a lot of money for charity though.